Readers are not free-riders: reading as a form of participation on wikipedia

The success of Wikipedia as a large-scale collaborative effort has spurred researchers to examine the motivations and behaviors of Wikipedia’s participants. However, this research has tended to focus on active involvement rather than more common forms of participation such as reading. In this paper we argue that Wikipedia’s readers should not all be characterized as free-riders – individuals who knowingly choose to take advantage of others’ effort. Furthermore, we illustrate how readers provide a valuable service to Wikipedia. Finally, we use the notion of legitimate peripheral participation to argue that reading is a gateway activity through which newcomers learn about Wikipedia. We find support for our arguments in the results of a survey of Wikipedia usage and knowledge. Implications for future research and design are discussed. Author Keywords Wikipedia, participation, free-riding, motivation, incomplete information, social computing ACM Classification Keywords H.5.3 [Info...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: CSCW
• Authors: Judd Antin, Coye Cheshire
• Keywords: CSCW 2010, Large-scale Collaborative Effort, Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Social Sciences, Wikipedia Usage